Pages

Welcome!

Welcome to ToddleToots! - A place to "Toot" (share) the funny, the shocking, and everything in between. A community to enjoy the "Toots" that come from your little ones; the unexpected and sometimes embarrassing things they say and do.

Two funnies: My husband was looking at an online menu for an Indian restaurant, asking me what I wanted. “Brother Rootbeer” (4yo) said, "Are we getting alien food?"... A few minutes later on his way out the door, “Brother Rootbeer” grabbed his pez candy dispenser and stated, "I have bugs in my throat. Mama this eats the bugs in my throat..." as he popped one in his mouth.

Kevin G.

A teacher tells her class that she loves the BEARS. The class agrees with her except one little girl. When asked who she likes, the girl said the Packers. The teacher asked why and the girl said "because my mommy and daddy are fans". The teacher replies "that's no reason to like them, what if your dad was an idiot and your mom was a moron... then what would you be?" The little girl replied back, "a Bears fans”. (That’s my girl!)

I was cuddling her (Baby Bratlet) and I asked her... "You know what you are? You are a present I get to open from God, every single day. You , your bub, your sister, and your daddy." She stares and me and then goes… "But where's the box?"

Friday, January 21, 2011

I know you're itching because I am too, but here's the thing: this is a REAL issue especially for school age kids who tend to pass these little "guys" around like everything else. A fellow mom of 3, recently went through this and she has some GREAT TIPS...

ADVICE ON LICE

I know the pavlovian response that we all have to the mere mention of lice - so go ahead and itch.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way - I wanted to pass on some REALLY helpful information about this nasty topic. First, it happens to the very best of us. It sucks and has been known to drive this mother to tears and question whether it might just be easier to burn the house down than freakishly clean every crevice of the house.

This is one topic that 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' and all the other parent preparation books fail to mention. So, while I always have loads of bandaids, neosporin, cough syrup, tylenol and vicks vapor rub on hand…I was still left utterly unprepared to deal with lice.

SO, the following is a lice crash course of sorts. My hope is that it will help someone else NOT have to go through the absolute hell that we did.

This is an important tool for your parenting backpack that I highly recommend:

2. Wet the hair down completely & comb/brush it out so completely untangled.

2. Section your hair off into 4 to 6 sections

3. Take the lice comb starting at the scalp & comb through the hair shaft all the way to the end.

4. After each swipe through the hair - rinse the lice comb in the boiling water. This is the easiest way to see the lice at all stages & distinguish between dandruff & nits. Dandruff is white or clear in the water & will float at the top of the water (it also will flake right off of dry hair while nits do NOT.) Rinsing the lice comb in the boiling water is also to ensure that you don't comb any lice right back into the hair.

5. Comb each section of hair: North to south, East to west, south to north, and west to east…especially if you DO find lice - you want to be extremely thorough in combing out as much as possible asap.

If you DO find lice - here are some things to know:

1. The lice shampoos don't work anymore. The lice are becoming immune, so don't bother wasting your money on it.

2. Let people know that you have discovered it…it is the only way to try to end the cycle.

c. Shaving your head...if you have no hair - the lice have no where to live. End of problem. I was not willing to do this (though I DID actually consider it heavily for a few minutes). This was a no-brainer with our boys though...thankfully. It cut our lice problem instantly in half.

4. 35 minutes in the dryer will kill lice - so throw all blankets, pillows, coats, hats, scarves, stuffed animals, etc in the dryer. You can throw all combs or hair things into a bowl & pour boiling water over them & soak for at least 5 minutes.

5. LIce want to live on the head…they cannot live off of the head for longer than 48 hours - so if you have cloth covered couches - vacuum them. Then I recommend you cover them with a sheet for a few days (just in case) and call it good.

6. We created a quarantine area in our house for things like throw pillows, etc. Once we dried them, we kept them in the quarantined area until we were sure that we were lice free. That way I didn't have to keep cleaning the same things over & over & over again.

Lice Prevention:

1. We have our daughter wear her hair up while she's at school.

2. No sharing combs or brushes - even in the family.

3. We do a lice comb comb-out after every bath time…so that we can catch anything early before it's a problem. And most of all - for peace of mind. :-)

By Nicole A.

Wow! Thank You Nicole for sharing such great advice. I know people don't like to talk about this stuff and can even be embarrassed by it, but this is part of REAL life and REAL things we have to deal with. If you have any questions for Nicole or anything helpful you would like to add, please leave it in the comments below.

Also, if you have tips on anything you have found helpful regarding your little ones, please submit them!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

In the spirit of the new year, many of us tend to participate in the age old tradition of resolutions: examining where we are in life and where we want to go and the things we want to accomplish for the coming year. Who would have thought that even "little ones" might have a few goals of their own? Well, I did and thus this segment was born. If these inspire you to ask your own kids about their goals, please keep sending them in and we will continue this segment through the rest of January.

Welcome to "New Year's Resolutions Through the Eyes of a Child":

Shea C.7yo daughter: I want to listen to my mom better and get along with my sisters better. Me: Is there anything fun you want to do this year? 7yo: I want to ride the biggest, bestest roller coaster! And I want to pick flowers and put them in vases. Me: Anything else? 7yo: To have chapped lips and face (she's been skiing). Me: Do you mean you DON'T want chapped lips and face? 7yo: Ya... whatever, you know what I mean.

5yo daughter: I want to read and to write more words. Me: Anything fun you want to do this year? 5yo: To do binastics (gymnastics -lol)

Apparently my son's wish for the new year is for the sky to be blue & the grass to be green. Such a dreamer.

Shawna T.So my 5 yr. old daughter says, "My New Resolution is to use my listening ears more. Oh yeah, and get to the gym more often!" My 3 yr. old son said, "my New Year is to play with my trains more!"

Keli B.

I loved the idea of sitting with my kids and talking about their goals, but at first they weren't so sure about it:

The Little Miss (7) quickly told me this was way too much like school, too hard for her to understand and she needed to get back to organizing her JustinBieberathon of posters and books she got for Christmas. (I don’t make this stuff up.) I asked her to stick around and listen to her brother’s to see if maybe it helped her think of anything.

My Little Man (5) quickly said “I want to be nice and not grumpy and earn mostly smiley faces on my calendar so I can get rewards and be good. Then I want to have some peace and quiet and then maybe go sledding a lot. Is this how it works Momma?” (If you know this child you now understand why the Apocalypse is upon us.)

The Little Miss then decided to play along (probably since I was on the floor passed out from the shock of my Little Man’s adorably thoughtful response.) “I want to throw a big party so everyone knows how much they are my friend. Then I want to start doing more nice things for other people – and not just worry about myself. I’ll start by shoveling snow for people who can’t do it themselves. Then I’ll think of more things. Maybe I’ll start making cards and sending them to people to tell them I’m thinking about them and hope they are doing good. Oh- and I wouldn’t mind getting some new shoes.” (That’s my girl!)

My daughter is too young to verbalize her new year's goals (1 1/2), butI was trying to teach her to say "Happy New Year" and she mumbled something close in return then automatically started shouting it as she roamed all over the house with her arms up in the air like she does when she says "surprise".

Thank you to everyone who shared their children's goals! Remember you can still submit goals throughout January so keep 'em coming. Make sure you sign up to receive your Toots via email so you don't miss anything.

4yo Son: "It's not good manners to shake your booty when you're not wearing any pants." LOL!

Jodey M.

My 6 year old, at the orchard, comes running up to me and says "mommy aren't I nice!? I let that little girl touch my woody!(Toy Story doll that is)! I told him how nice it WAS and held back my laughter until he was playing again!

Thanks for sharing! Keep 'em coming. Make sure you check our new box on the home page called "Toot Requests" to see if we are looking for anything specific.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Welcome to 2011!!I hope the holidays have found you rested, well fed, and excited for all the possibilities of this new year. To start this new year off with some laughs, we have a few "Toots" to share with you:

Meghan A.

My daughter, L (3yo) told her daddy on the phone today, "Daddy, when I get bigger, I'm gonna do jumping on the sticks!" Yeah, she means gymnastics :)

Shea C.

My (7yo) was telling me her dream. When she finished I said, "That's crazy! Why were you dreaming that?" She replied, "I don't pick my dreams, someone else does, I never do".

Wendy M.

I just overheard Brother Rootbeer say this to his little sister, as he was playing with his new nerf gun: "I will shoot your butt, it's like a gun spanking."

Shawna T.

Our new years eve excitement started early when my son B (3yo) decided to stick a tiny lego up his nose... I was freaking out and his dad, as usual was as cool as a cucumber when he removed it with little tweezers. All is well and B said, "We do not put wegos up our nose, bad choice." :) bless his heart!

Michael C. (and our first "dad post")

My son (after finding a cover for his iPod for $5.49): "I like Best Buy.....it's way better than Rosauer's. I know it's not a grocery store, but...it's way better."

Ariana L.

My 6 year old daughter was being extremely helpful and was taking the lights off the Christmas tree. She said, "You might want to watch out for pricks!" I thought that was sound advice from a 6 year old!

--------------

I've heard there's a lot of "sickies" out there and hopefully this made you smile. We are just getting over that obnoxious cold here at my house and I send you thoughts of a speedy recovery. Because of the "down-time" we had, there were LOTS of movies watched and not just by us parents. I can't even tell you how many times all the new Sesame Street DVDs that my daughter got for Christmas have been played. Her fascination with Elmo (previously pronounced "Melmo") has expanded to the rest of the crew: Abby, Cookie (oh, she LOVES Cookie! His name is practically shouted whenever she sees him), Zoe, Big Bird, the Count, and Rosita (who I'm afraid to say is affectionately pronounced "Ta-Ta" similar to when she use to pronounce "kitties"... well, let's just say it started with a "T". I'm happy to say that is no longer the case.)

I hope you enjoyed our little assortment of "Toots". I wish the very best for you and your families in this new year. In the spirit of this new year (and it still being January), if you have older kids ask them about their New Year's Resolutions/Goals - we'd love to compile a list! Or if you have any cute stories from any of the holidays, we'd love to hear!